Summary of the criticism and of the potential ways to improve acculturation psychology
Section snippets
Major points of criticism
- A.
Problems with the definition of acculturation
- A.1.
The process of acculturation is ill-defined and the existing definition is helpless to provide psychologists with elaborated guidelines to study acculturation based on uncovering its symbolic, social, linguistic, and psychological aspects (Chirkov; Rudmin);
- A.2.
The existing definition is taken from outdated anthropological literature (Chirkov; Rudmin);
- A.3.
This definition addresses the phenomena on a group level. When working on this level acculturation
- A.1.
Suggestions to improve research in acculturation psychology
- a.
A definition of acculturation and terminological suggestions
- a.1.
One possible option was suggested: “Individual acculturation (in contrast to group acculturation) is a process that is executed by an agentic individual (it is not a process that happens to an individual) after meeting and entering a cultural community that is different from the cultural community where he or she was initially socialized. Acculturation involves a deliberate, reflective, and, for the most part, comparative cognitive
- a.1.